I know I should be writing on the SOTU, or on the Coburn healthcare proposal, but this is what I\u2019ve been thinking about lately:<\/em><\/p>\n Dear Republican Leadership,<\/p>\n We are Americans, whether descended from Mayflower arrivals or having arrived ourselves, or somewhere in-between, and\u00a0we recognize America\u2019s long history as a place of immigrants.\u00a0 But we recognize that\u00a0high levels of immigration, especially unskilled immigration,\u00a0have never been an\u00a0unmitigated good, and all the more so in a time of globalization\u00a0and economic change, as it drives down wages for\u00a0less-skilled workers already in our country, and imposes heavy burdens on our schools, health system, and social welfare system.<\/p>\n We are a nation of laws, and we oppose the practice of using \u201cdiscretion\u201d to ignore those laws on a wide scale.\u00a0 Our laws ban the employment of individuals not authorized to work in the United States, but wide-scale identity theft, production of fraudulent documents, and acceptance of under-the-table work (as nannies, landscape workers, and day laborers) as normal by politicians, the media, and law enforcement itself, make a mockery of these laws.\u00a0 Measures to require true verification of work eligibility and to genuinely prohibit under-the-table work must be enacted and fully implemented, not as a bargaining chip but because it\u2019s the right thing to do.<\/p>\n We are a nation of compassion, and recognize that some migrants to our country have had the welcome mat placed before them by politicians, state and federal administrations, and businesses who are all to happy to hire when they\u2019ve been told the government will turn a blind eye.\u00a0 We recognize that there are those who have built lives in the United States, and for whom a return to their home country will place them at far greater hardship than if they had never left, chief among them children, but also adults who are firmly rooted in their communities here.\u00a0 We are willing to accept an amnesty for limited groups of migrants, using English fluency (not intention to study English in the future) as a marker for integration into the United States, so long as these individuals have committed no crimes and will not and have not been dependent on any welfare program for themselves or their families (including food stamps, medical benefits, etc.).\u00a0 <\/p>\n We are a nation of fair play, and oppose attempts by business interests to promote a guest worker program\u00a0for low-skilled workers.\u00a0\u00a0 To the extent that, despite ongoing high unemployment, Americans do not fill job openings, employers bear the primary responsibility for raising pay an improving working conditions, but our social welfare system also needs reform, in cases where accepting a job makes a recipient worse off then before.\u00a0 We know that wages for low-wage workers have stagnated, and even declined precipitously\u00a0where immigrants have been willing to work for less, and the importation of even more low-wage workers will worsen the troubles for existing ones.\u00a0 Even among more skilled workers, we find credible the claims that\u00a0employers clamoring for more visas to higher immigrant tech workers are not\u00a0truly suffering from labor shortages, but hoping to hold down wages.\u00a0 If in the future, the long-predicted labor shortage does come to pass, and new workers cannot be found among the unemployed, or by recruiting new workers into a specific field, we will recognize the pragmatic need for a new solution at that time.<\/p>\n Most importantly, we are\u00a0Your Base.\u00a0 We are growing discouraged and\/or angry at reports that Republican leadership, in order to be praised by pundits and reporters as \u201cmoderate\u201d and to respond to advisors pursuing the so-called Hispanic vote \u2014 or maybe just influenced by the money flowing from the Chamber of Commerce and Silicon Valley \u2014 are willing to provide an amnesty and guest worker with few or no strings attached, only a farcical proclamation of future enforcement.\u00a0 And they\u2019re doing this because they are convinced that their core voter base will stick with them, because no matter what, they\u2019ll be better than their Democratic Party alternatives.<\/p>\n Republican leadership, listen up!\u00a0 I know I ramble and consistently violate the \u201cbottom line on top\u201d dictum but understand this:<\/p>\n You cannot take your base for granted, enact legislation which they oppose from start to finish, and expect their support.\u00a0 They will stay home.\u00a0 They will abandon you as campaign workers, get-out-the-vote callers and drivers.\u00a0 They will give up on political action.\u00a0 You will lose.<\/p>\n Let me repeat, bottom-line-on-bottom, if nothing else:\u00a0 YOU WILL\u00a0 LOSE.\u00a0 <\/p>\n Yours truly,<\/p>\n Jane the Actuary<\/p>\n (now, if I could just get Boehner, Cantor, Ryan, et. al. to listen to me. . . )<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I know I should be writing on the SOTU, or on the Coburn healthcare proposal, but this is what I\u2019ve been thinking about lately: Dear Republican Leadership, We are Americans, whether descended from Mayflower arrivals or having arrived ourselves, or somewhere in-between, and\u00a0we recognize America\u2019s long history as a place of immigrants.\u00a0 But we recognize […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2209,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-640","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n